herefishiefishie

2 foot tank, then its one pair only, or a few females{3} Should be able to pick out m & f at 4cm. Frenchy

Depends on what the sex ratio turns out to be. If its multpile females, should be right. If you end up with a mixture, there will be room for 2 breeding pairs. The rest will get smashed. If you end up with all males then it will be a big fight fest. When buying, females have the orange markings on their stomach, males don't have this. Frenchy

Well put Slayer...Its a shame not all lfs have the same approach you did. I myself in my time was lucky to work under a real fish geek, even knew fish diseases by scientific name :lol: I am not bad on scientific names on cichlids,{I am an african cichlid geek :lol: }...as for tropicals & the like :-? as long as I knew their conditions, disease problems, who gets along with who & the like all sweet. We believed in the spending time with customers, if they told us they had Angels, then we would stear them away from neons. Brad has the same approach too & for a little shop he is doing really well.{do i get discount for that Brad :lol: }He took over from his brother last year & has increased sales, profit....all from being nice basically, remembering names of people & what fish they keep. When he first started he used to ring myself or my old boss for answers to questions...now he dosen't need to :lol: Also to add to fish selection on lfs, if you notice tanks are on a system, then observe other tanks for diseases, symptoms...Unfortunitly not all customers have the knowledge or whatever to really spot for some diseases. There have been times when visitng a lfs, see signs of fin rot, white spot...& customers are asking staff if they can buy, most just don't see the problems. Frenchy

Well if you start with 2, you can end up with heaps. :roll: Seriously 2 pairs. Frenchy

I hope you weren't calling me names? Thats not very nice. :lol: I believe you may of mis-read me. The convo was about lack of fish medications firstly in NZ, but Aussie isn't much better. I was talking about "fish food" as in you can get medicated "fish food" in the states, which is used to treat fish when sick :roll: Frenchy

I do the same as 2fishy. The reason for me to go this way is that oxygen depletes as it moves through the canister. Some bacteria need oxygen to survive. So I have bio balls, matrix, ceramic noodles... at the bottom. Most fish waste passes through these anyway with the force of water. Really, who does have big chunks of waste in there water. :-? Next I have coarse foam, with the top being a slightly finer foam or purigen.... I set my canisters up this way so that I don't have to clean them often, well rarely to be precise. 8) I do use internals in conjunction with a canister. The internals I use are filled with fine foam to catch the smaller particles. Pretty easy to pull these out to clean. Makes my job easier & is a very effiecent way to filter a tank. ps; I never use filter wool Frenchy

Don't worry Sharn I think we are a very close 2nd. I hate reading USA sites & seeing what choices they have.eg; Food that has anti biotics in it. With all the recreation drugs I could buy at a click of a finger that will make me have a good time but harm the body :roll: yet where are all the medicines that could do some good for this hobby. :evil: Frenchy

I would say it is just a case of the move to a new tank. A number of factors, new tank, caves, different fish, surroundings, slight difference in temp, ph..... Frenchy

Here is a pic of one of the dominant males Photo was taken with a flash, buggers won't sit still lol. His colour is more on the purple side. Frenchy

If I was you Jo I would of bought the other 12 as well. Great chance of getting a good colony then. I agree, cool little buggers, even the females have some colour. Males are very nice. Also mine were breeding at only 4cm. But then again they don't get big at all. Frenchy

Glad to read the good news. Frenchy

Invite some friends around & reinact the scene from Stand by Me. :lol: Frenchy

heres a link explaining how to post pics http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/posting-pics-on-the-fishroom-forums-vt4307.html Frenchy

Yep I agree with the above post, that oscars are great pets & sadly people don't care for there needs. My mate could pat his, was a great pet. Feeding them the wrong kind of foods like feeder fish{no nutritional value}, beef heart & high fat foods can lead to disease problems & yes they are prone to HITH disease, one of the worse fish for it. & yep i agree with the above comments about them being messy & their love of redecoration. Frenchy

Funny that, I can can praziquintel here easy enough. In that case then :roll: anything with Formalin or Malachite Green will do the trick. What I used to use in a lfs was a home brew that had Grub kill{used in horticulture}in it. Its a very good parasite remedy for fish too. But has to be measured properly, as is harmful to catfish if over dosed. Anyone with a fish room, or shop the home brew is a great option, way cheaper. You will find alot of drugs used in other fields, humans too. eg; the oxy family of drugs Frenchy

I would say that its a bite mark from another fish. nothing to worry about if the water is clean. Frenchy

Find a parasite remedy at your lfs that has praziquintel in it. Frenchy

I believe salt to be overrated as a treatment. Yes salt is used to burn off the old mucus...but if the water is dirty, fish are stressed....with no slime coat opens the fish to other diseases. I believe white spot needs a host, so if there are no fish in the pond, then the white spot will die off. Being cold is tricky to work out the length of cycle, 2 weeks should be fine. You can treat the white spot in the drums, I would just use white spot remedy, try not to adjust temperature much as that will stress the fish out a bit too. Treat them in the pond will work, just do one or 2 treaments after the white spot disappears. Frenchy

The loaches will try there best. Night time raids, even the pleco will gobble any strays. Do you have spare tanks, breeders nets??? As above will be best way to describe what will happen. Frenchy

Did they check nitrites...?? Keep medicating for 7-10 days to cure white spot. Keep up with the water changes. I'd be doing 30%, 2 to 3 times a week for 2 weeks, with a gravel syphon. Remember to melafix is daily for 7 days. Frenchy

I would treat with Metronidazole{Flagyl}, or if you can't get that then Clout. Frenchy

Sorry to hear Frenchy

Looks good, I am sure the cichlids will love to play around in that tank. One question; has the UV steriliser been on during the cycle period? Frenchy

For me the White A.calvus. Have to grow the now parents up for 2 years before they are mature enough. Was lucky that out of the original 6 I bought, 1m 2f remain & have turned out to be a good breeding trio. These fry are proving a real challenge to raise too. Taken a few trial & errors & losing a few batches. Touch wood seem to be getting there. The bizarre part is I have bred other Alto's before-common Balck Calvus & A.compressiceps with no dramas. This has been a challenge & worth it, not many in these parts have breed these yet. It will take 6 months to grow fry to 3cm, the pic shows some at 1cm about 2 months old. This wide shot pic gives you a better example of the size of fry.{Same shot, not cropped} Frenchy

Could of been a head knock. Same sort of symptons. Frenchy